Shards of a Memory
by Bullseyes and Targets
Summary: Post-Ultimatum. Basically a Jason/Nicky story with my own ideas added on what happens after Bourne jumps into the river. My first attempt at a Bourne fic... slightly better detail inside.
1. Chapter 1

_I've had this introduction stored away in my computer probably since... I first saw the Bourne _**Ultimatum**_ at the pictures. I kept thinking, I'll post it on but then I never did, don't know why, guess I just chickened out lol, but after reading some real amazing FF stories based on the Bourne series on here, and after watching _**Ultimatum**_ about a million times this past week I decided to give this a shot. It's not brilliant and I'm still not that sure about it, but as far as introductions go I guess it'll suit. _

_Oh yeah, it is a_ **Jason/Nicky** _story, I was never much a_ **Jason/Marie** _shipper and after watching the Bourne Supremacy and seeing Nicky's character in that I was just like... wow, I love Nicky, her and Jason are meant to be together lol. Since Nicky's history isn't really... told in the films I've designed her past and such._

_Okay, so like I said, this starting thing isn't the best thing in the world but, it'll do me and hopefully the next part will be better. The story is mainly about Nicky at first, this first part is Jason oriented and then Nicky oriented but I'll have some input from him throughout Nicky's thingie._

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_**Part One**_

The icy cold water of the Eastern River hit him like a knife as he plunged into the black depths from the top of the building. For a few moments he could not think, he was frozen, paralysed. Unable to make his stiff limbs move.

Panic set in, and he suddenly twisted in the water, causing pain to shoot through his lower back. He had been shot. Paz had not done it, the guy had lowered his weapon, but by Vosen. Noah Vosen had appeared on the roof and fired a shot at him just before Bourne had leapt from the building roof.

In those seconds of hitting the pitch black, freezing water, he had forgotten the injuries gained, but now that he tried to move, to force his cold limbs to swim, he felt the burning pain of the bullet lodged within his back.

Logic finally set in, and through the sharp agony he managed to make himself swim in the cold river. He kicked his legs trying to ignore the searing pain from the bullet. No doubt those on top of the roof, Vosen and Paz, would be waiting for him to surface, to know whether he lived or had perished from the long drop to the river. But he could not surface, he would not surface. No matter how much his lungs screamed out for oxygen, all that mattered was getting away from the building without showing he was still alive.

Breaching the surface meant that people would discover he was alive. If he did not appear, if he just swam out of sight then no doubt the conclusion would be reached that he had not survived, and that seemed like the better thing. He could slip away. If people thought he had perished in the River then they would stop searching for him and he would no longer have to keep peering over his shoulder to make sure he was not been trailed. He would escape from it all. Play dead.

Though he wanted to be as far away from the building and Vosen as possible, he knew he could not remain without oxygen any longer and so kicked with his legs to propel himself towards the surface before feeling the freezing chill of the air on his face as he broke through the water and into the cold, frosty night. The biting icy water splashed around him as his breath fogged in his face and his steel blue eyes scanned the river for any signs of a way to escape the numbing water.

His eyes landed on the embankment of the river, it was not too far away from his current position though his body was screaming at him that it could take no more abuse. Treading water for a few seconds, he allowed himself to feel the stabbing pain of the bullet lodged in his back before steeling himself against the pain and forcing his body back into motion. Swimming would keep him warm, and the sooner he reached the embankment, the sooner he could remove the bullet and find some place to lay low.

Hospitals were out of the question. Definitely out of the question, there was no way he could show himself in there, a guy soaking wet, freezing and sporting a bullet wound in his back would most likely attract the attention of the police and with them the people who were out to end his life. The only option he had was sorting his battered self out on his own.

After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the embankment and managed to haul himself from the river and onto the muddy grass land. Resting his head in the grass, he took deep shuddering breaths and felt the tug of the bullet in his back with each ragged gulp of air that he took. His body was numb, so very numb, and for the moment he could barely think straight as he lay in the cold mud, his clothes stuck to his frozen body and the blood from the gun shot in his back seeping through his soaked clothes and into the river.

_"Look at what they make you give,"_ The words spoken to him by The Professor and then from him to Paz replayed themselves in his mind as he slowly pushed himself to his hands and knees, his breath coming out in a sharp gasp as the bullet twinged painfully in his back.

His body trembled violently beneath his soaked clothes and his wounds were doing nothing to help him as he swayed on his knees and struggled to get to his feet. He should have known something like this was going to happen, sure, he had seen that Paz was not going to shoot him, but he should have expected someone else to try and take the opportunity. He wasn't so sure whether the fact that the bullet hadn't hit him in an area that would kill was a good thing, being dead would make his life a whole lot easier. Death would mean that he was truly free of them all. But then again, he would not be able to take his own life. Maybe that was why he was quite reckless, he hoped for someone else to erase this memoryless existence.

His entire body ached from driving a car off a roof and then landing himself in a car crash all in the same day and getting shot just put the icing on the cake.

He wanted to cry out in pain when he managed to get his feet beneath him and stand up. Moving to his full height made the bullet wound feel much worse than what it already did and so he stood, hunched over, his left hand wrapped around his waist to feel at the hole in his back.

It had gone deep which meant that it would be a bitch to get out, he wouldn't be able to get it on his own, but he didn't know who else he could trust. There was no one. Marie had been the only person that he would have trusted with his own life, but Marie was dead and that left him to suffer alone.

_Nicky. _The name slithered through his mind before he even had time to register what he was thinking, and when he did, he snarled at himself in anger. He couldn't trust Nicky, and besides, he didn't have the slightest clue where she had gone after he had said his last words to her at the bus station. But then why did her name come to his mind? And the bigger question was did he want to find her?

_"It was difficult for me... with you." _Difficult for her with him? He had no idea as to what she meant by that, there were so many possibilities and as much as he wanted to know why she had difficulty with him, he also feared the answer. Was it possible that before he had gone on the mission to kill Wombosi but had wound up in the Mediterranean with two bullets in his back that he and Nicky had been more than what he believed?

The thought made his head ache even more as he managed to limp away from the chilling water's edge, the smell of the river clogging up his senses and the pain in his body making his usual ability to think straight less accurate.

He just wanted to lie down and sleep. He was tired of the running, the hiding, the killing. He wanted desperately for it to end, but at the moment he focussed on putting one foot in front of the other and heading away from the River and towards any place.

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_I've started on the next part, well I have it written up, but I can't for the life of me choose an alias for Nicky, I've gone through pretty much all the names I could find on the internet and I was left with quite a few names that I liked so, if anyone reads this I'm gonna post the names that I liked and you guys can help me decide so... the names are..._

_1. _Erika_ 2. _Selene_ 3. _Skye_ 4. _Olivia_ 5._ Lily _6. _Alexandra_ 7._ Georgia _8_. Elizabeth _9_. Roseanne _10_. Evelyn

_So they're the 10 names, if you review just say which name you like at the moment I'm liking Erika, Georgia and__ Roseanne but every time I add the name I want to change it._


	2. Chapter 2

_Wow, when I posted the first part I thought I would only get one or two reviews at most and when I logged back on to check up on the story I was gobsmacked to find so many comments. You're all so lovely!! _

_So, here's the next part, it took me a little longer than I thought it would to get it done, but I didn't know where to set it and I was looking up things on the place whilst having Google Earth on quite a lot. I knew I wanted it to be in Italy, but whether it was going to be Naples, Rome or Sorrento was another question. In the end I settle with a place that I know pretty well from a school trip that I went on last March._

_I'm a little uncertain with this chapter, there are a few parts that I like and then there are other parts which I'm not so sure of, but... it works alright for me so I thought I'd post it despite my uncertainty lol._

**fairy-princess7** – Thank you for reading, hehe, Roseanne rocks and is definitely amongst my top favourite names.

**sweetgirl8353** - Evelyn is such a good name too, ever since I saw _'The Mummy'_ it's been a name which I've loved and it had to be one of my choices. Thank you for reading, I hope you like this next part.

**aliaslover14 **- Awh, thank you so much, I wasn't too sure about whether I was writing him too non-Jasonish (pardon my made up word lol) or going over the top but I'm glad what I finally left it was fitting to the character. Lydia was one of the names that I had considered for Nicky, I love the name but when it came round to deciding on just ten I found there were other names which I just couldn't get out of my head lol. My friend, like you, really liked the name Alexandra for an alias, though she has never seen the Bourne films. Hope the update hasn't taken too long, thank you so much for reading.

**LifeLineGirl** – Ooooh I certainly hope you post your own fic, I would love to read it! I watched one of your Bourne videos, the _You Will Be Loved_ one. I loved it, I've never heard the music before but it was very nice and the way you worked in the clips together was awesome!! I really hope you post your own Bourne fic, then I can read it! Thank you for reading the first part, I hope you like the next one.

**Mishelle20** – Dawwwwh, thank you, I'm glad you liked the beginning and I hope you like the next chapter just as much though it isn't exactly Jason oriented. Hehe thanks for voting on the names. Erika I think, was the one that captured my thoughts most, it seemed to fit well with what I had written. Thanks for reading so far, I hope you like the update.

**Glamrockprincess** – I like your opinion lol, Skye is such a nice name that I had to include it with in my top ten choices and Erika... well, I had to have that in there since it wouldn't leave my mind. I'm glad you liked the intro to the fic and I hope you like this update too.

**DeepBlueQL** – Though I liked the character of Marie, I simply found Nicky and Jason to be have something more... meaningful and deep about them than Marie and Jason, but I did like the Marie character. Hopefully you will like this chapter and thank you for reading and choosing the names you liked.

**Elliesmeow **– Thank you for reading Ellie. I wasn't sure whether to have him thinking that Nicky would be a safe option for him or not, but then after a while I just thought that, if I was in his situation I wouldn't want to trust anyone at all, and even though someone had been sent to kill Nicky there was every chance she would betray him so... I went with the more likely option of him not seeing Nicky as trustworthy, though there is some part of him which disagrees with his notion lol. Hopefully the name I've gone with will work for the character even in the place that I've dropped her in lol. Anna was one of the names I considered for Nicky, given I considered pretty much every name I could pronounce lol, but I wanted something a little different but one that wasn't too unusual. Evelyn is one name that I really, really like and so that had to be in the list, plus, like you I could imagine Nicky introducing herself as an Evelyn. Again, thank you for reading, I hope you like this next update and the name I eventually went with.

**packersgirl37** - Thank you for reading and choosing the names you liked **packersgirl37**, I greatly appreciate your helping in the choosing of an alias for Nicky. Both Selene and Lily are beautiful names.

**Frust-sheep** – Awh thank you! I'm glad you like the first part and hopefully you'll like this part too. Elizabeth is a very nice name and thank you for your opinion, it's helping me to find out which alias Nicky should have. Well, I hope you like this next part to the story.

**deal4321** – Hehe thank you for your votes **deal4321**, here's the next part for you to read, hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as the first part. Erika, Skye and Olivia are great choices!!

**conmama05** - Thank you for reading, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. Lily is one of my favourite names out of the top ten but it also had the other nine alongside too lol. Here's the next part for you, I hope you enjoy it.

**truthfulies** – Thanks for reading and posting a review **truthfulies**, I appreciate it. As for your name selection, I love Olivia too, and I could easily use it for Nicky's alias, but then I could with the other nine names lol. Thank you for your vote, I hope you like this update!

**noro** – Thank you for reading **noro**. Here's the next chapter, I hope you like it!

**Owl Emporium** – Hehe thank you for reading and reviewing **Owl Emporium**. Well, here's the new update, hope you like it.

_Disclaimer: I do not own Jason Bourne/David Webb, Nicolette Parsons or any other character that is within the Bourne films and playing a role within my Fan Fic. As for anything that is not clearly noted in the film... well, I thought I'd have some fun with that. I do own some things that will be within this FF so... yeah._

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_**Part Two**_

Erika Harper. That was her name now. She was no longer Nicolette Parsons but twenty eight year old Erika Harper from America living in Sorrento, Italy. Nicky had removed her former, real identity and chose a new name, her new alias. She had a job in a café in the centre of Sorrento's busy main square, Piazza Tasso which was near to her apartment and though everyday was a constant struggle filled with worry, she was managing to slip into the new lifestyle.

The manager of Sorrento's Fauno bar had hired her because of her English speaking skills as she was able to offer a better communication and interest in the growing number of tourists who were always visiting the café after a day of shopping or sight seeing. Already with long awaited coming of Spring, many tourists and school groups were visiting Sorrento, mainly to visit the historical and Geographical sights.

There had been no questions asked about her past history. No one seemed to care that an American girl had left her home and travelled to Italy and Nicky was perfectly content with that privacy that the people she worked with offered her. She was so used to people delving into her history, noting every flaw and imperfection of her past that the lack of interest in her past from the Italians' was a great welcome.

Though this was not the life that she wanted to adopt, working in the café was the best shot that she had at avoiding the CIA, the people she had worked for.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Nicky ran a hand through the pony-tail of her black hair. Though she had preferred her hair the dark caramel colour it had been before she had dyed it, she knew that all of the pictures of her were with that hair colour and no doubt there had been pictures of her with the long, blonde hair that she had had before changing it. No doubt the photos of her would have been sent from the CIA through to other organisations who would keep a close look out for her whereabouts. Since the day that she had cut and dyed her hair, it had grown a considerable length from the earlier shortness and now swept just above her shoulders whilst the fringe was cut a different lengths to neatly accent her face.

_It gets easier_. It was true, the running and lying did get easier, but it was something Nicky did not want to do for the rest of her life. Sure, she could live the name Erika, she could even live with simply being a waitress in a café in Sorrento, but she could not live with was the one thing she had to. She would never be able to see her family, never be able to let anyone get close to her for fear of them finding out about her past or even worse, for them being an asset who was sent to kill her. For the most part, Nicolette Parson's life was over, but in another way, the door was just opening for Erika Harper.

It was all down to him and her choice that night in Madrid. Entering the building she had been totally unprepared for the sharp tug on her arm which had dragged her into the office. Standing there with him pointing a gun in her face again had terrified her, her heart had been doing somersaults in her chest and she had felt sick from the fright. Staring at him had brought on a mixture of emotions and feelings, the first and major one had been fright which then slowly faded into shock and nervousness before finally landing on a rather old emotion and feeling that she dared not admit to herself.

_"What are you doing here?" _His words were not spoken unkindly, though the gun in her face was enough to make her worry. No, in his voice she had detected quite a large amount of shock, clearly he had not been expecting her to be there as much as her him. She had stared at him, struggling to breathe properly as she absorbed what she was actually seeing before her. Then the phone had started to ring and with that, her whole life had taken on a new direction.

_I must have been mad to help him! _Nicky thought to herself as she glanced out from the interior of the café and onto the busy square. She knew the reason behind her helping Bourne had a lot more to it than just madness but whether she would admit it to herself was a different story entirely.

"Erika!" A thick, Italian accented voice called her "name" and Nicky raised her head in surprise. She had clearly been lost in her own thoughts, a million miles away from what was going on around her in the present. Turning, she saw one of the waitresses, from behind the counter and she was beckoning Nicky to her. Taking a deep breath, Nicky pushed herself away from the wall that she had been leaning against and approached the counter and Arianna. "Order." The other waitress said as she nodded her head at a tray that had large dishes of ice cream on it. "Table ten outside." Though Nicky could speak Italian, the other members of staff insisted on speaking in English to her, whether it was to help their own English speaking abilities she did not know, but for the most part, she was quite glad that they allowed her to stick with her native tongue.

Picking up the tray, Nicky glanced at the food before looking at Arianna who smiled at her. Arianna was one of the people that Nicky had managed to become friends with and sometimes when they were not working they would spend time together. Peering over her shoulder, Nicolette eyed the outside seating area for a few seconds before letting out a low sigh and carrying the food from the interior of the café to the table.

Stepping out into the mild afternoon air, Nicky approached table ten where a group of teenagers were sat, a quick scan of the rest of the tables informed her that it was probably a school group who had stopped in the café given the amount of teenagers sat at the tables laughing and talking. Upon seeing her, the teenagers lowered their voices and looked expectantly at her as she picked up the first dish of ice cream.

"Um... Pistachio?" She asked as she eyed the green coloured ice cream with a slight look of dislike on her face before peering down at the six teenagers seated around the table. A girl with long, dark brown hair which looked almost black, raised a hand and smiled at her and Nicky reached out and set the bowl of ice cream on the table before the girl who murmured a thank you in a British accent whilst eyeing the ice cream with the same look of dislike on her face that Nicky had worn.

Picking up a pink coloured ice cream, Nicky looked at one of the other girls who grinned brightly at the sight. "I'm guessing this strawberry's yours?" Nicky said looking at the caramel haired girl who nodded her head.

"You're American? How come you're in Italy?" The question took Nicky by surprise as the teenage guy seated beside the black haired girl asked her. Setting the strawberry ice cream down before the caramel haired girl, Nicky found the teenagers looking at her curiously. Feeling slightly uncomfortable with the teenagers questioning her, Nicky glanced over her shoulder at the other customers and waiters before looking back at the teenagers and managing to place a smile on her lips.

"Yes I am an American," She said with a small nod of her head, "But my aunt lives here and I wanted to spend a year or so away from America so I came here and got a job." Well, she lied well enough and the British teenagers seemed to buy her story as they all nodded their heads whilst the boy and one of the girls across from him exchanged views on how they wished they had family living in Italy. Nicky managed to hide the fact that she let out a heavy breath, God, if a simple question asked to her by a group of British teenagers could get her worrying, what the heck would she do if some American tourists started questioning her on why she had moved to Italy?

Finishing setting the dishes of ice cream out, Nicky managed to smile at the teenagers, "Enjoy." She said before turning away with her tray and heading back into the main interior of the café and setting the empty tray upon the counter.

Finding herself ladened with another order to take out, Nicky placed a smile on her lips. _God, how could I crumble like that? Teenage kids from Britain aren't a threat to me._ She thought, but then almost immediately another part of her mind retorted, _How would you know? Look at some of the people who did the dirty work when you were back in the CIA, teenage kids are just as risky as anyone of them. _Immediately she felt sick to the stomach and did not want to step foot outside of the café. _Alright Nicky, now you're just being silly. They're on a school trip, they want to see the volcano and the historic sights, not assassinate you. Get a grip. _The order in her mind was enough to quell the thoughts that ran rampant in her mind and she stepped out through the double doors of the café and under the canopy shelter.

The latest order was for just one person, a beer drinker too, weaving through the chairs and tables, Erika approached the table which resided in the corner of the exterior bar area and had a green hedge to one side and the wall and window of the main building of the bar behind it. Lifting her gaze to the person seated at the table, Nicky felt a flicker of nervousness enter her system before she snapped at herself in her mind and managed to shut down the tense feeling.

The man was watching the street that lay before the café, the cars driving past and the people crossing the road in a hurried frenzy so as to avoid collision with the traffic. He had thick, dark curly hair which hung to the middle of his neck with lighter, blonde flecks running through it and a slightly triangular face with high cheek bones. The fingers of his right hand were tapping against the orange, table cloth covered table and he seemed to not notice her approach as she set the tray down on the table and looked at him as though uncertain of whether to draw him from his watching of the people. Though the way he was sitting would have seemed relaxed to anyone else observing him, Nicky could tell he was hardly at ease, to her he looked like a predator coiled tight and waiting to pounce, but then again, maybe he always looked like that.

As she was about to speak, the man's eyes snapped to her face and Nicky jumped in surprise as his steel blue eyes locked with hers causing her to knock the pint of beer over and onto the orange table cloth. "Oh damn!" She cursed, though she was pleased for the distraction of the spilt beer. Pulling the cloth from the waist band of her apron she picked up the half empty pint glass whilst pressing the cloth against the spilt beer, "I am so sorry," She said as she mopped up the beer before making herself look at the man.

A few people on neighbouring tables, the British teenagers included, had turned to observe the scene and Nicky began to feel her cheeks turning red. "Don't worry about it, it happens." The man said in a voice that carried no accent noticeable to her. Nicky paused and looked at the man after he spoke, and found him to be watching her with a curious look on his rather tanned face. Managing to give him a small smile, Nicky looked back down at the table before irritably brushing a strand of her black fringe from her eyes. He was an American too, great, the one thing she had thought about inside happening had actually occurred and there she was, like a lemon mopping up spilt beer.

Uncertain of how to carry out her next move Nicky nodded her head, "Yeah, it happens a little too often though," She managed to utter and he cast her an amused look which strangely, seemed to lower Nicky's worrying, he was not acting like the typical asset.

"You spill beer a lot on your customers?" He asked and Nicky frowned slightly before looking up at him again. Upon seeing her dark frown he raised his hands in mock surrender, "Sorry," He said as Nicky finished dabbing at the wet, orange table cloth. "I'm Adam."

"What?" Taken by surprise at his sudden change of subject onto his name, Nicky's word was harsh. The whole situation was something Nicky had become less used to, especially since her new life had set in. Seeing him arch a brow at the harshness of her words, she shook her head, "I'm sorry, I'm not feeling too well." She said as she turned from the table and quickly entered the café and went to the staff toilets.

Arianna, seeing her friend's distress approached the table where the man was sat and offered her apologizes to the spilt beer before moving him to a different table and fetching him a fresh drink out before following Nicky into the staff restroom.

"Erika?" She asked softly as she shut the door behind her and found the American girl leaning over one of the sinks whilst running the cold tap. "Are you okay?" Though she sometimes struggled with her English, Arianna was determined to speak the language to Erika.

Splashing the soothing, cold water onto her face, Nicky looked to the door where Erika stood and gave a small nod of her head. "I'm fine Arianna," She said but saw the disbelieving look on the Italian woman's face, "I'm just not feeling very well right now." Turning the cold tap off, Nicky stared at herself in the mirror, her skin was pale in the reflection and there were dark circles around her eyes from the nights of not sleeping well.

"Go home Erika, there's no point you staying here if you're ill." Arianna said as she cocked her head to the right and eyed Nicky with a sympathetic look.

Running a hand over her face, Nicolette gave a slow nod of her head, "Alright." She breathed as she dried off her face with one of the towels and then walked through the door which Arianna held open for her.

"You come in tomorrow if you feel better yes?" Arianna asked and Nicky nodded her head before removing her apron and retrieving her bag from the staff room. Within ten minutes she was leaving the Fauno Bar and crossing the road of the busy Piazza Tasso and making her way to the Drains which led back to her apartment.

Throughout the day the Drains were filled with the hustle and bustle of activity and the shops down the narrow streets were open from early morning till late night. The crowds were large and Nicky had a hard time avoiding colliding with anyone. From each direction she could hear different languages being spoken whilst the Italian shop owners called for people to look at their merchandise.

Quickly diverting from the harassment of a middle aged Italian Man carrying numerous fancy scarves, Nicky quickly turned down another narrow street which was less crowded before coming out onto the main road which led down to the sea front and her apartment.

Looking down onto the Marino Piccolo, Nicky watched the boats and hydrofoils leaving harbour or coming back in before turning and walking through the door into the apartment building and up the stairs to her apartment. There were three levels to the building and hers was the middle apartment which gave her a good view of the ocean and Sorrento and also an advantage against any thieves who thought they might try their luck on the apartments.

Unlocking the door, she slowly pushed it open, a trait she had adopted over time since her encounter with Jason in Madrid, and when she was certain there was no one lurking within she stepped inside before shutting the door behind her and locking it. She no longer had to think about being cautious, it was now something that had worked its way into her system to the point where it was instinctive and as she moved through each of the rooms she was careful to check for any intruders.

Once convinced there was no one there, Nicky approached the balcony doors before pulling them open and stepping outside into the warm, March air. It was two days away from being April and already the weather was warm enough to move around in shorts and t-shirts, save for the odd shower of rain that plagued Italy at that time of year. The apartment was not what one would call impressive, but it was cosy and Nicky was glad she had chosen it, more so for the view of the ocean than anything else. 

Resting her forearms against the balcony railing, she watched the cars drive along on the road below before letting out a heavy sigh and running her hands through her black hair. When she was back in her apartment on her own she felt safe, and most of the time she felt safe when she was working in the café, but today was just one of those off days she had been having every now and again. No doubt she had freaked out the guy in the café with her sudden retreat into the interior of the café but she hadn't known what else to do.

She knew Arianna was no threat, Hell she had double checked everything about the woman and even spoken to her parents. The Italian woman was one of the safer people for Nicky and the other staff members who worked in the Fauno Bar, but the people she served, they were the people she labelled as possible threats to her health. The man, Adam, had taken her by surprise and the first thing she could think of was to get out of the café as quickly as possible.

Now that she was stood on her balcony and watching one of the Hydrofoils returning from Capri, her sense of unease about the man was fading and the butterflies running rampant in her stomach were not from fear but embarrassment on her part. He was just being friendly, being in a different country where all the people spoke a different language and looked at things differently to yourself was quite disorienting and probably finding someone from your own country was enough to keep you on your feet. A low groan escaped Nicky's lips as she thought about her immediate reaction to the guy. 

The British teenagers had been one table away from him and no doubt he had heard her speaking to them about being an American and so when she had brought him his drink he had taken the chance to talk to her and she had freaked out. Not everyone in the world was out to get her, and yet she was acting as though they were. "Please Nicky get a grip on yourself." She whispered to herself as she pushed away from the balcony railing and stepped back into her apartment.

She needed to move on. She had chosen Italy for a reason and that was to start a new life, to leave behind what once was and start with what should be, but she was still holding onto her old life, like clutching at straws when all it was doing was running her down and tearing her world apart. She had to let go of everything. Of her family and friends, of her old job, she had to let go of Jason. It was the only way for Erika Harper to progress in this life.

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_Thank you for reading._


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